Foo Fighters’ guitarist Chris Shiflett will play a trio of Southern California shows in support of his latest solo album, ‘Hard Lessons’

After returning home to Los Angeles from a tour with Foo Fighters overseas, Shiflett will headline The Wayfarer in Costa Mesa, Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown and The Moroccan Lounge in L.A. with singer-songwriter Jade Jackson this month.

Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett will headline a series of shows in Southern California in support of his fourth solo album,” Hard Lessons,” which came out on June 14. Shiflett will play The Wayfarer in Costa Mesa on July 10, Pappy & Hariet’s in Pioneertown on July 12 and the Moroccan Lounge in Los Angeles on July 14. (Photo by Brantley Gutierrez)

While traveling to perform at massive festivals and inside packed arenas and stadiums all over the world the last couple of years with rock giants the Foo Fighters, Chris Shiflett spent his free time in hotel rooms and backstage picking away at his guitar, mulling over issues that currently plague society and coming up with a new batch of songs for his latest solo album, “Hard Lessons,” which officially dropped back in June.

“You have a lot of downtime on tour,” the 48-year-old Santa Barbara native, who currently resides in Los Angeles, said during a recent phone interview at a Foo Fighters tour stop in Denmark. “Most of your day is not really spent doing anything, so I’d whittle away at song ideas and I did go to Nashville a few times to write with folks out there that I’m friends with. Sometimes when you get into the right mindset all of a sudden you’re like ‘I have 15 songs. Cool, I’m ready.’”

“The show in Costa Mesa will be our first show all together so we’ll see what happens,” he said with a laugh. “It might be a live rehearsal or it could be magic. We’ll see. Just show up early, have about seven beers and you’re gonna love it.”

While his main gig is rocking out on stage with Dave Grohl & Co in Foo Fighters, Shiflett has also been in a variety of other bands including the late Tony Sly-fronted punk rock group No Use for a Name, punk rock supergroup and cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and other solo side projects such as Jackson United and Chris Shiflett & The Dead Peasants. That later project and his latest solo material is much more country leaning, though his new solo album definitely explores more of his musical influences, which include everything from Buck Owens and The Replacements to X and Social Distortion.

He once again joined forces with award-winning producer Dave Cobb, who has worked with Sturgill Simpson, Jason Isbell, Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile and Jamey Johnson, and who produced Shiflett’s previous album, 2017’s “West Coast Town.”

“I had so much fun making ‘West Coast Town’ out there with Cobb and his guys and I just wanted to get back out there and do it again,” he said. “Making that record … I don’t know, I just learned a lot and had an incredible time so I wanted to do it again sooner rather than later. The new record was actually made about a year ago so I did get back in there pretty quickly.”

Shiflett said he had a lot of fresh song ideas and the majority of “Hard Lessons” stemmed from things he wrote in the few months leading up to getting into the studio. He didn’t go in with such a stringent plan this time and noted that being less prepared made for a different and more enjoyable experience that turned into a more rock and roll sounding record.

“This Ol’ World” comments on the current political climate, but with a bi-partisan approach that notes “This ol’ world has lost its … mind.”

“It’s not very finger pointing, even though I do love talking politics and I will argue my point of view anytime, but we are in unique circumstances right now and it seems everyone has lost their minds,” he said. “I do have a solution. Elect me in 2020 and I’ll set all things right.”

He trusted Cobb with “Welcome to Your First Heartache,” which Shiflett originally felt was a more mellow, acoustic song for the album. When Cobb heard it, he took it in the opposite direction, punched it up and told him, “Let’s make this like Teenage Fan Club, let’s give it that feel,” Shiflett recalled. “We went for it and it wasn’t the direction I was thinking it would be, but I’m really glad we did it.”

“There are so many that have been memorable … Lucinda Williams, Chris Stapleton, Dwight Yoakam … I feel really lucky because not only have I gotten to interview tons of people that I’m a huge fan of, but my podcast also keeps me turned on to stuff that I’m not so familiar with,” he said. “I’m getting into new music all of the time from people that come on and I might not be that familiar with their music. You do an interview with someone, you have a connection and get to know them a little in the hour or so that they’re there, and it’s pretty great.”

The question he always asks the musical guests on his podcast is how the songwriting process works for them.

“One of the things I’ve taken away from doing all the interviews I’ve done is that no one has a straight answer for that,” he said. “No one can sit there and exactly explain where it comes from or how they do it. It seems like it’s different for everybody just a little bit, but I like hearing people talk about how they do it. I don’t know that I necessarily take anything that I use from that, but I find it inspiring.”

Chris Shiflett

With: Jade Jackson

When: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 10

Where: The Wayfarer, 843 W. 19th Street, Costa Mesa

Tickets: $15; 21-and-over only

Information: Ticketfly.com

Also: 8 p.m. Friday, July 12 at Pappy & Harriet’s, 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown. Tickets are $15 and available to all ages at Eventbrite.com; 8 p.m. Sunday, July 14 at The Moroccan Lounge, 901 E. 1st Street, Los Angeles. Tickets are $15 and available to those 21-and-older at Eventbrite.com.

Kelli Skye Fadroski lives for entertainment. She’s worked at The Orange County Register since 2006 and has covered all things music, stand-up comedy, horror and more. When she’s not out reviewing a concert or interviewing some random famous person, she’s catching up on episodes of 'The Walking Dead,' somewhere sampling craft beer, enjoying Taco Tuesday or yelling at the contestants through the TV on 'Celebrity Name Game' for not knowing basic pop culture trivia. She’s also a diehard Detroit Lions fan.

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